February 2003 Predictions

"God speaks as softly as he can, and as loudly as he has to.
- Rafi Zabor

[YOUR FUTURE - INVENTIONS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE]
The days when your laptop runs out of power before you can save a vital document could soon be over - longer life is ahead for laptops.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has created Roomba, a robot that vacuums. The $200 robot zips under furniture and sensors keep it from bumping into walls or falling down the stairs.

The Sputnik is a round wireless microphone that is well-padded so that you can just toss it overhead, like a beachball, to the next speaker. Not yet for sale, it comes from Design Continuum and the Massachusetts Institiue of Technology.

Two British researchers have developed a phone tooth. It can be buried in a molar to receive cell-phone calls. The signals travel from the tooth through the skull to the inner ear, where only the receiver can hear them. You can't buy a tooth phone yet - there is only one.

At the annual Toy Fair, companies unveiled new playthings stuffed with electronic bells and whistles.

A researcher is working on a wearable glove that can translate sign language into speech.

Scientists look to the day when computer components are built not by factory machines but by living cells such as bacteria.

Nanotechnology, the science of the very small, is facing fierce opposition from those who fear its implications, researchers say.

An implanted heart monitor which can send data down the phone line to doctors is being tested in the US.

Swiss researchers say they have successfully caused a quantum particle to disappear and reappear two kilometres away without it ever existing in between.

It is almost beyond the realms of imagination - a computer powered by being plugged into an item of clothing.

[HOT TRENDS]
Reports of new U.S. AIDS, HIV cases are up for the first time since 1993.

Some airline passengers just getting used to baggage inspections and patdowns at airports soon may have to reveal how much they weigh before boarding small commuter and regional planes. You soon may be required to be weighed - or be barred from boarding the planes.


[ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS]
For years, NASA and the aerospace industry have been designing the next-generation space shuttle. What could NASA's next spacecraft look like?

Data to be released by Nasa will show that the Universe will expand for ever, at an ever- increasing rate.

The Earth has probably already peaked as a haven for plants and animals and begun its long descent into oblivion, according to scientists at the University of Washington who have plotted out the future of our planet. Due to an ever-brightening sun, Earth's days are numbered. And there's a relatively short window of time when complex life can exist. At best we've got no more than half a billion years left. This is the BEST case scenario - long before the Earth dies this natural death, we could get knocked off by an asteroid, or blown away by a nearby exploding star.

An amateur astronomer has recorded strange flashes around the space shuttle Columbia just before it began to break up. He has not yet released the pictures to the public, but they have been seen by San Francisco Chronicle reporters who have described them as extremely puzzling. At the same time that the shuttle was re-entering, energy from a solar flare that took place hours before was entering earth's atmosphere.

"The space shuttle Columbia broke up in a mysterious area of the upper atmosphere once so little understood and difficult to study that scientists dubbed it the "ignorosphere." The region is of particular interest not only because that's where the disintegration occurred but also because of a time-exposure image taken by an amateur astronomer showing a snake of purplish light corkscrewing through the shuttle's hot glowing trail as it crossed over California."

It was reported last week that a coronal mass ejection [CME] from the sun was striking the earth at the same time that the shuttle was re-entering. An amateur radio astronomer recorded two unusual spikes at 96 degrees at the time the shuttle was beginning its re-entry maneuver. This would be consistent with the arrival of the CME. The CME event was in no way unusual. It wasn't even a particularly large CME. But there is no record of whether or not any shuttle has ever re-entered during a CME. The reason this may be important is that the silica in the tiles is known to "charge" electrostatically under the right (or wrong) conditions. If it had charged excessively during the minutes before re-entry, contact with the upper reaches of the atmosphere could have caused a discharge that might have disrupted the tiles. For the full story go to Unknowncountry.com

Should we be told if a monster rock is heading our way? Researchers wrestled with this question at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. Some suggested there was no point worrying the global population about its imminent demise.

Space station crew photographs mysterious clouds that shine at night - They hover on the edge of space. Thin, wispy clouds, glowing electric blue. Some scientists think they're seeded by space dust. Others suspect they're a telltale sign of global warming.

[BIOLOGY PREDICTIONS]
Dads are to blame for late babies - A father's genes appear to determine when a woman gives birth, researchers suggest.

A scientist has invented an artificial tree designed to do the job of plants and purify the air.

Leatherback turtles, the largest turtles in the world, will be extinct within 30 years if current fishing practices continue, scientists say.

Australia's first cloned sheep, Matilda, has died unexpectedly of unknown causes, scientists say.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of British Columbia found that switching on the television helps distract people from their personal failings.

Infants spend much of the time when they are awake watching the actions and reactions of people around them, including on television. Twelve-month-olds were able to watch something on television and actually use the information to make decisions themselves and guide their behavior.

Keep a sample of your DNA safe and portable - Most people lug their entire supply of DNA around without thinking, putting all their eggs in one basket - their bodies. However, conscientious folks can now store some DNA away for safekeeping and ensure a record of their existence. And it comes in a nifty tin too.

US scientists have identified a gene which they say could explain why humans are unique.

[HEALTH PREDICTIONS]
It could soon be possible to detect breast cancer at a much earlier stage thanks to new technology being developed by UK scientists.

If you're diagnosed with heart disease under 40, the news is not good: one in three die within 15 years, new research finds.

Exposing wounds to pure oxygen can help them to heal more quickly, according to doctors.

The leading UN health agency warns of mass outbreaks of serious diseases if terrorist groups contaminate food supplies.

Countries in Europe and parts of Asia could face an epidemic of mad cow disease - and the human brain disease linked to it - if they failed to take measures to prevent its spread, the UN health agency said.

A simple blood test that measures the length of a tiny part of our genetic material may soon be able to predict how long we will live.

Scientists say ingredients in beauty products may be causing cancer. "Mainstream cosmetics produced by mainstream industries are literally a witch's brew of carcinogenic ingredients."

More than 100,000 veterans of the Gulf War a decade ago are still sick and no one quite knows why. That has vets and veterans groups worrying about whether anything can be done to protect a new generation of soldiers facing a possible new war in Iraq.

[MOVIES AND TV]
Science from fiction - how movies inspire medicine.

[ODDITIES}
A crazy killer-ant that could blind people, could angrily march its way across Australia, scientists have warned. Described as one of the world's worst species of ant, the crazy critter does not bite or sting - instead it sprays acid into the eyes of animals, and potentially humans.

A pack of frenzied dogs attacked six parked cars in the Bavarian capital, leaving a trail of damaged vehicles in their wake and causing panic among residents woken by the disturbances.

"When I go [die], it won't be quiet. I'll be going in a storm," actress Ava Gardner told friends months before she died. She died in London on January 25, 1990. That day a surprise storm swept through the city with lightning, thunder, high winds, power outages and extensive property damage.

People who believe they have been "taken" by aliens show real stress symptoms like those of traumatised war veterans, researchers say.

[POLITICAL PREDICTIONS]
War damage to Afghanistan's environment is so severe that it is seriously impeding efforts to rebuild the country, the UN says.

The United States is considering using nuclear weapons in a possible future war against Iraq to destroy underground command posts and stop Iraqi forces from using weapons of mass destruction, a top US private military expert has warned.

The Al Qaeda terror network is seeking out chemical, biological and radiological weapons, and could pick "soft targets" such as shopping malls.

[SPIRITUAL PREDICTIONS]
Scientists say they have found evidence that meditation has a positive biological effect on the brain and immune system.

[STOCK MARKET PREDICTIONS]
Is real estate war-proof? Despite the threat of war, Americans' unquenchable thirst for buying real estate still continues unabated. Can this trend continue?